Innovation Abstracts, NISOD’s flagship teaching strategies publication, provides an excellent opportunity for community and technical college educators to learn about and share best ideas about programs, projects, and strategies that improve students’ higher education experiences.

8 Sep, 2020

Battlefield of the Mind: A Closer Look at Test Anxiety

2020-09-08T21:07:14-05:00

Volume XLII, No. 34 | September 10, 2020 Battlefield of the Mind: A Closer Look at Test Anxiety Tests and evaluations are an inescapable part of our world. While an assessment's primary goal is to evaluate a student’s aptitude and identify the need for improvement, it is also a standard tool [...]

Battlefield of the Mind: A Closer Look at Test Anxiety2020-09-08T21:07:14-05:00
1 Sep, 2020

Brackets Are for More Than March Madness: Using a Snowball Pitch Activity to Foster Student Engagement and Learning

2020-09-02T00:00:06-05:00

Volume XLII, No. 33 | September 3, 2020 Brackets Are for More Than March Madness: Using a Snowball Pitch Activity to Foster Student Engagement and Learning Game-based, competition-based, and project-based activities have been found to positively impact student learning. The Snowball Pitch, an activity that combines game-based, competition-based, and project-based learning [...]

Brackets Are for More Than March Madness: Using a Snowball Pitch Activity to Foster Student Engagement and Learning2020-09-02T00:00:06-05:00
24 Aug, 2020

Problem Solving for the Future: Teaching Using Scenarios and Backcasting

2020-08-27T18:04:43-05:00

Volume XLII, No. 32 | August 27, 2020 Problem Solving for the Future: Teaching Using Scenarios and Backcasting Depictions of the future in popular media tend to focus on humanoid robots, space travel, and other new technologies, but “the future” encompasses much more than these developments. Thinking about the future includes [...]

Problem Solving for the Future: Teaching Using Scenarios and Backcasting2020-08-27T18:04:43-05:00
18 Aug, 2020

Humility and Humor: A Holistic Approach to the New Online Reality

2020-08-20T15:19:40-05:00

Volume XLII, No. 31 | August 20, 2020 Humility and Humor: A Holistic Approach to the New Online Reality When the world went into lock down this spring, everything changed for educators and learners alike. The initial panic took instructors into overdrive to ensure course content could be wrapped into a digestible [...]

Humility and Humor: A Holistic Approach to the New Online Reality2020-08-20T15:19:40-05:00
11 Aug, 2020

Mastering the Third Culture: Helping Students Navigate the Technology-Based, At-Home-Learning Environment

2020-09-03T13:43:04-05:00

Volume XLII, No. 30 | August 13, 2020 Mastering the Third Culture: Helping Students Navigate the Technology-Based, At-Home Learning Environment In a widely circulated Youtube video, a troubled student pours out his difficulties with online, learn-from-home modalities. He fears the pandemic and feels trapped in the house. He is frustrated with how [...]

Mastering the Third Culture: Helping Students Navigate the Technology-Based, At-Home-Learning Environment2020-09-03T13:43:04-05:00
4 Aug, 2020

From Onsite to Online Proctored QuickBooks Certification Exams

2020-08-04T23:01:22-05:00

Volume XLII, No. 29| August 6, 2020 From Onsite to Online Proctored QuickBooks Certification Exams As instruction shifted remotely this spring, the accounting department at Dallas College Brookhaven Campus needed to find a way to administer QuickBooks certification exams to accounting students. As an accounting instructional specialist, I worked with the department’s [...]

From Onsite to Online Proctored QuickBooks Certification Exams2020-08-04T23:01:22-05:00
28 Jul, 2020

Food for Thought: Redesigning Required Courses for Student Engagement, Relevancy, and Retention

2020-07-28T19:12:18-05:00

Volume XLII, No. 28| July 30, 2020 Food for Thought: Redesigning Required Courses for Student Engagement, Relevancy, and Retention As educators, we share the annual challenge of keeping our students engaged and retained. Engagement and retention issues have been amplified by COVID-19. Many instructors lost students during the immediate shift to online [...]

Food for Thought: Redesigning Required Courses for Student Engagement, Relevancy, and Retention2020-07-28T19:12:18-05:00
20 Jul, 2020

Equity in Distance Learning

2020-07-21T18:54:34-05:00

Volume XLII, No. 27 | July 23, 2020 Equity in Distance Learning I woke up today at 2:00 a.m. and laid in bed. This was not the first time I had awakened in the middle of the night thinking about my students. The switch to distance education has kept many instructors awake, [...]

Equity in Distance Learning2020-07-21T18:54:34-05:00
14 Jul, 2020

Supporting Students as Writers Within and Beyond the Online Technical and Community College Classroom’s Digital Walls

2020-07-16T14:55:46-05:00

Volume XLII, No. 26 | July 16, 2020 Supporting Students as Writers Within and Beyond the Online Technical and Community College Classroom’s Digital Walls Tweets of no more than 280 characters? #Easy A catchy post on Instagram? Captioning now! Will post tonight! Responding to a Discord message? Ready. Click. Send. Emoji optional. [...]

Supporting Students as Writers Within and Beyond the Online Technical and Community College Classroom’s Digital Walls2020-07-16T14:55:46-05:00
7 Jul, 2020

Making Cultural Assets Count in Community College Math: Lessons Learned From Piloting Real-Life Math Tasks in a Yucatec Maya School

2020-07-09T14:52:11-05:00

Volume XLII, No. 25 | July 9, 2020 Making Cultural Assets Count in Community College Math: Lessons Learned From Piloting Real-Life Math Tasks in a Yucatec Maya School As a researcher and a community college math instructor, I have experience with culturally responsive instruction in and out of the classroom. Culturally responsive [...]

Making Cultural Assets Count in Community College Math: Lessons Learned From Piloting Real-Life Math Tasks in a Yucatec Maya School2020-07-09T14:52:11-05:00